Tele-Operation of Robot using Facial Feature Point Detection

In this paper, we develop an interface for remote control of robots with the operator's face movement using facial feature point detection. 14 feature points of the operator's face are detected using a camera. The position and posture of the face is obtained solving the perspective-n-point (PnP) problem. The interface allows three degrees of freedom (DOFs) of a robot, right and left, up and down, and zoom in and out. A laparoscope holder robot is controlled by four interfaces: the proposed method, pressing buttons on the robot, using a gyroscope with foot pedal and using an image processing of a maker. The operation time using the proposed interface is almost the same as the other three interfaces.